Superspeed elevated railway



W. C. COX

May 10, 1949.

SUPER-SPEED ELEVATED RAILWAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 24, 1944INVENTOR. MILK/P 620/4 60X.

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May 10, 1949. w. c. cox 2,469,432

SUPER-SPEED ELEVATED RAILWAY Filed July 24, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7I.Lv-

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IHHKHI Patented May 10, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to an elevated superspeed railway and has for itsprincipal object the provision of a vehicle and track design which willallow exceedingly high speeds to be efficiently and safely obtainedwithout damage to wheel bearings or traction surfaces.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an over-head railway whichwill be economical to construct and which will be exceedingly rigid andstrong; to provide driving means which will obtain maximum traction onthe track with a minimum of wear, and to provide a construction in whichthe surface of a belt may be employed to obtain traction on track so asto eliminate the inefficient wheel contact usually employed for drivingpurposes.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efficiency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is hadto the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawings and throughout thedescription.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of the improved super-speed,elevated railway;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of the drivingportion of a car as used on the railway of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross section therethrough, taken on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal section, looking downwardly, on theupper drive wheel.

The improve-d elevated railway is designed to be supported uponspaced-apart pairs of vertical posts l0, each terminating at its top ina head bracket member H. The posts of each pair are joined together bymeans of cross braces I2. The head bracket members I I support archmembers l3 which join the tops of each pair of posts. The posts are ofvarying length depending upon the variations in elevation of thesupporting terrain, it being intended that the track shall maintain auniform grade alignment regardless of the surface profile.

The track comprises two parallel longitudinal truss beams l4 supportedon the posts H3. The beams l4 carry, along their upper edges, acontinuous series of spaced-apart rollers 15. The axles of the rollersI5 are mounted between two parallel roller plates l6 supported along thetops of the beams l4. These rollers are preferably provided withsuitable antifriction bearings and are of relatively small diameter sothat very little power will be required to overcome their staticinertia.

The arch members 13 support an upper traction track ll, preferablyformed of an inverted channel-shaped member provided with an internalfriction pad l8 of rubber or similar material. The cross braces 12support a lower traction track I 9.

The track structure is designed to receive a tubular streamlined car 20,such as illustrated in Fig. 1, having forward and rear passengercompartments 2| separated by a power compartment 22. The car issupported by longitudinally extending runners 23 secured along each sideof the midportion thereof over the track rollers 15. The runners aresufilciently long to simultaneously engage a plurality of the rollers sothat, as the car moves, they will always be supported by a number of therollers and as the runners pass from one roller they will have enteredupon another preceding roller. The car itself carries no supportingwheels.

The car may be driven along the roller tracks in any desired manner. Thepreferred method of driving the car is illustrated in detail in Fig. 2.It comprises one or more motors or power units 24. One of the units 24is connected, by means of a relatively heavy traction belt 25, to alower drive wheel 26. The wheel 26 is mounted on a crank bearing 2'! ina transversely extending axle 28 which extends across the car and intothe runners 23 to provide a support for the latter.

The drive wheel 26 is mounted immediately above the lower traction trackI 9 so that the belt 25 will rest on the track. Thus the tractive effortis between the belt 25 and the track. The wheel 26 does not contact thetrack. It will be noted that the rotative effect of the belt 25, incombination with the reaction of the crank 21, draws the wheeldownwardly to squeeze the belt snugly against the track. The outersurface of the belt, if desired, may be concave, as indicated at 29, toconform to the shape of the track l9.

Another of the power units 24 actuates an upper belt 30 which is trainedround an upper drive wheel 31 positioned immediately below the upperchannel track IT. The upper drive wheel is also mounted on a crankbearin 41 in a cross axle 32 extending across the car into the runners23 at the sides thereof. The crank bearing 41 is constantly urged, bymeans of springs 33, to force the outer surface of the belt 30 againstthe friction pad [8 of the upper track. This contact is also assisted bythe pull of the upper reach of the belt 34 during operation.

The belts 25 and 30 may be of any type found most suitable forthepurpose. It will be noted that the entire tractive efiort is transmittedto the tracks by means of the endless belts 25 and 3B. These beltscontact the track at only a portion of their lengths at any one time sothat the remainder of the belt has ample time for cooling and the wearis, distributed over; the entire length thereof. The entire-pull uponthe belt is transmitted directly to the track without intermediateelements.

The car is preferably provided withv a forward guide wheel 33 whichrides in the channel of the upper track to maintain the car in.longitudinal alignment therewith.

An exceedingly high speed may be attained by the improved car sincethere are no track engaging or supporting wheels on the cars. Thiseliminates all possible over-heating of; wheels and bearing boxes. Thesupporting rollers only operate individually 01- an instant so that theydo not become over-heated or worn. The cars are perfectly streamlinedsas to reduce air resistance to a minimum andall, sharp grades and curvesare eliminated by theover-head structure. Therefore, high speedoperation is economical and entirely safe and practical,

While a specific form of the improvemen lhas been described andillustratedherein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be aed w h n the v sc i. e o :th ,ap ded la ms, without departing from-thespirit of the-invention.

Having thus described the, invention, what is claimed and desiredsecured by' LettersPatent is:

1. An elevated-railwaycomprising: a plurality of aligned pairs; ofsupporting; posts; a pair of spaced-apart, horizontal beams-supported inparallel relation by said; posts; acontinuous series of spaced-apart.rollers extending above and aligned along each'beam with their axes atright angles to the axis of said beams; atubular,

stream-lined car positioned between said beams;

a horizontally extendingrunner memberprojecting from each side of, saidcar, each runner member resting upon one of a series of rollers, saidrunner members being suiilcientl-y long to cover a plurality of saidrollers and being positioned in a horizontal plane substantiallybisecting the vertical height of said car so that substantially one-halfthe car will be suspended below the plane of said rollers; a tractionrail extending parallel to said beams below said car; and driving meansengaging said rail to propel said car therealong.

2. An elevated railway comprising: a plurality of aligned pairs ofsupporting, posts; a pair of spaced-apart, horizontal beams supported inparallel relation by said posts; a continuous series of spaced-apartrollers extending above and aligned along each beam with their axes atright angles to the aXis of said beams; a tubular, stream-lined carpositioned between said beams; a horizontally extending runner memberprojecting from each side of said car, each runner member resting uponone of a series of rollers, said runner members being sufficiently longto cover a plurality of said rollers and being positioned in ahorizontal plane substantially bisecting the vertical height of said carso that substantially one-half the car will be suspended below the planeof said rollers; a traction rail extending parallel to said beams abovesaid car; traction drive means engaging said rail to propel said cartherealong.

WALTERCECIL COX.

REFERENfiES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name: Date 157,801. Devilbiss Dec. 15, 1874168,860; Wright Feb. 16, 1892 987,253 Neale Mar. 21, 1911 1,063,949Bedient June 10, 1913 1,355,853 HabsburgLothringen Oct. 19, 19201,411,597 Trask Apr. 1, 1922 1,616,761 Rose Feb. 8, 1927 1,685,035Robertson Sept. 18, 1928 2,228,034 Nelles Jan. 7, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS.

Number Country Date 392,776 England May 25, 1933

